Andy Roddick has made it clear that he would rather win a Grand Slam title than an Olympic medal, despite the attraction and status of an Olympic medal.
During the 41-year-old’s appearance in the ‘Served with Roddick’ podcast episode, he and Jon Wertheim discussed a variety of issues. Roddick seemed to adopt an alternative approach as the two discussed the glory of winning an Olympic gold medal, stating that, in his opinion, winning the Wimbledon trophy was more important than competing in the Olympics.
Speaking in the podcast, Roddick said: “This (winning in the Olympics) is awesome, and what an honour! This is great. But also, I think if you ask people, is this as important as the slam, and I certainly felt this pressure in 2004?”
In 2004, the former American professional had an incredible season. He progressed to the Wimbledon final and the third round of the Athens Olympics following his victory at the US Open the previous year. He clarified that he does not want to generalize and that this viewpoint may vary for many players.
He added: “And then, you know, eight years later, I’m like, no, I would have definitely taken a Wimbledon title instead of that. 100%, no chance. It’s not even worth a conversation. If you put me in this seat right now and you give me, hey, you could have an Olympic Gold Medal or you could have a Wimbledon title. It’s not even up for discussion for me. We try to define value and you can’t define value.”